How Long Does It Take to Crochet Amigurumi in 2024?

Since the moment that I picked up my first crochet hook, I’ve spent lots and lots of my free time crocheting amigurumi. You might be wondering how long it takes to crochet a cute amigurumi animal or doll, so I’m here to tell you which projects will be quick makes, and which are destined to be long term projects.

The most basic amigurumi usually take 1-2 hours to crochet, while multi-part amigurumi (such as teddy bears) without embellishments will take around 6. After that, more complex amigurumi can take many more additional hours— there’s no limit to creativity!

If you’re still confused about what kinds of amigurumi qualify as basic or complex, or have any other questions, I’m here to share my first hand experience with you.

A quick breakdown of how long it takes to crochet amigurumi

To make it more clear as to how long different kinds of amigurumi might take to make, I made a quick table. However, keep in mind that not every kind of amigurumi is represented here and there will always be exceptions.

First, identify the amigurumi type based on size.

Amigurumi Type	Time (hours)
Basic: Amigurumi based around a single ball shape about the size of a golf ball with small attachments. E.g. bee, whale, jellyfish	2
Small Multi-part: Small amigurumi with multiple parts to form the body, arms, head, and legs. These might be about the size of a child’s hand (around 5 inches tall). E.g. small bunny	4-6
Medium Multi-part: Medium amigurumi with multiple parts to form the body, arms, head, and legs. These are the size of conventional stuffed animals like Beanie Babies or Webkinz (around 8 inches tall). E.g. bunny	6-8
Large Multi-part: Large amigurumi with multiple parts to form the body, arms, head, and legs. These are a foot tall or more.	10+

Then, add on time to account for any embellishments.

Additional Embellishments	Added Time (+hours)
Small Accessories: flower crown, messenger bag, headband, bowtie, belt, suspender straps, scarves	+0.5
Complex Details: Hair, extensive color work, large removable clothing items (jacket, hat)	+2-4

The result is approximately how long it should take to make your amigurumi!

For Example:

Let’s say I wanted to make Kitsune the Fox Girl:

She’s a small multi-part amigurumi because she’s around 4 inches tall and made up of many parts that are sewn together. She also has 3 complex details (hair, hat, and dress).

5 hours (small multi-part) + 6 hours (3 complex details x 2) = 10 hours

I would expect Kitsune the Fox Girl to take 10 hours to crochet.

Keep in mind that my estimations are meant for advanced beginners (anyone who has mastered the basics) and onwards. If you’re just starting out, the resulting estimate should be doubled. However, it’s important to note that your first project should be as basic as possible to help you build a good foundation!

Why does it take so long to crochet amigurumi?

Crocheting amigurumi is time consuming because each stitch is carefully crafted by hand. Since each round in an amigurumi can be up to 50 stitches or more, this means simply adding one round to a project can take at least several minutes.

As can be easily imagined, if you repeat this process over multiple parts of amigurumi it can quickly grow time consuming.

Besides crocheting the parts, assembly is often an extremely time consuming step that many may not immediately recognize. Attaching each little arm requires a couple minutes of sewing, not to mention tucking in all the yarn ends.

For dolls that have many small accessories that need to be sewn on or stuffed animals that have many parts to be put together, sewing everything into one piece adds significant time to your project.

How should I pace myself?

Although the estimate from above gives you a good idea of how long it would take to make an amigurumi in one go, in reality most people (myself included!) don’t have time or the inclination to complete a project all at once. After a few hours, I usually find myself getting tired of sitting and squinting for so long so it’s nice to take a break.

When I’m working on a bigger project, it makes more sense for me to make one or a few parts a day so that I can make progress towards the whole project over the course of a few days. That way, I’ll continue to be excited about finishing my amigurumi without getting over exhausted or unmotivated.

This means spending around an hour or two per day, maybe with longer chunks on the weekend. If you spread out your crocheting in this way, you can find out how many days it will take to finish your amigurumi by dividing the total number of hours by the number of hours you want to work on it per day.

For me, this usually means that a smaller amigurumi will take two to three days, while more involved and complex ones will take up to a week. However, everyone’s schedule is different! You might be able to cram in extra hours on the weekends, but no time at all on the weekdays, and that’s totally okay. Just make sure to find a pace that works for you.

What can I do to save time when crocheting amigurumi?

If you hate wasting time like me, then there are definitely some things you can do to make sure that you maximize your crocheting time. In my book, the more crocheting, the better!

1. Gather all your materials.
   • There’s nothing more annoying than settling in to crochet and then having to run across the room to grab your sewing scissors. Make sure that you have everything you need within an arm’s reach—it’ll make everything go so more smoothly. For me, that usually means stitch markers (sometimes two or three for amigurumi), scissors, yarn, hooks, tapestry needle, and embroidery thread.
2. Review the pattern for unknown techniques and practice those first.
   • Sometimes when I start a new pattern, there’s a new stitch that I need to learn. When that happens, I prefer to watch the necessary video or tutorial to practice it first before I jump into the actual pattern. This ensures that I’m confident that I can execute the entire project flawlessly without having an annoying hang up halfway through the project. Also, if it turns out that the unknown technique is above my skill level at the moment, it means that I find that out right in the beginning instead of in the finishing stretch! I can’t think of anything more annoying than realizing halfway through that I won’t be able to finish the amigurumi after all. The easy way to prevent this from happening is to just scan the pattern beforehand and learn any tricky parts first.
3. Use stitch markers
   • This last one can seem like a no brainer for experienced amigurumists, but I wish someone had told me this when I first started out. Making amigurumi almost always involves crocheting in the round, and the issue with crocheting in a spiral is that it’s impossible to see where each round begins and ends. I think on my first attempt, I frogged my project three times because of miscounting until I finally figured out how to mark my place! Stitch markers are truly a lifesaver and can cut down on so much time when those counting errors inevitably occur. Also, for amigurumi, multiple stitch markers can sometimes be needed to mark spots on separate parts or denote connection points.

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The most basic amigurumi usually take 1-2 hours to crochet, while multi-part amigurumi (such as teddy bears) without embellishments will take around 6.

Check out some other commonly asked questions:

• How Long Does It Take to Learn to Crochet Amigurumi?
• Is Amigurumi Easy?
• Can I Crochet Amigurumi with Embroidery Thread?